Theo Riddick rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown, Kyle Brindza kicked five field goals, and No. 1 Notre Dame secured a spot in the national championship game last night with a 22-13 victory over Southern California.

Everett Golson passed for 217 yards as the Irish (12-0) completed their first undefeated regular season since 1988 and will play for the program’s first national title in 24 years. Although they did little with flash on an electric night at the Coliseum, the Irish woke up more echoes of past Notre Dame greats with a grinding effort against USC.

Notre Dame’s hard-nosed defense appropriately made the decisive stand in the final minutes, keeping USC out of the end zone on four plays from the Irish 1-yard line with 2:33 to play.

After spending more than a decade looking up at the Trojans, the Irish are back on top of this rivalry with two straight wins in Los Angeles.

The school of Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen and Paul Hornung has new heroes now, from inspirational linebacker Manti Te’o to Kelly, who took the Irish from unranked to start the season to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in 19 years. Te’o, the Heisman Trophy hopeful, had a key interception against USC and took particular pride in that last defensive stand, which included three straight Trojans runs resulting in nothing.

“It doesn’t matter where the ball is,” Te’o said. “We’re going to protect the end zone at all costs.”

After Brindza’s school record-tying fifth field goal put the Irish up by nine points with 5:58 left, Marqise Lee caught a 53-yard pass from USC freshman Max Wittek at the Notre Dame 2. But after USC failed on three straight runs at a defense that has allowed just 11 rushing TDs in 30 games, Wittek threw incomplete to fullback Soma Vainuku, setting off a leaping, chest-bumping celebration on the Notre Dame sideline.

“They’ve had a great goal-line defense all year,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said. “They’ve done that to everybody down on the goal line. ... It’s just so hard to score touchdowns versus them. When the ball is on the 2-inch line, you’d think you could score touchdowns.”

The grind-it-out win highlighted an unforgettable season for the Irish, who began the year with questions about their relevancy and overcame some uninspiring performances and nail-biting finishes with their unbeaten record intact. Notre Dame is likely to face a Southeastern Conference opponent in Miami but won’t know for another week which one. Alabama and Georgia play for the SEC title in Atlanta on Saturday.

With the Irish offense repeatedly stalling in the red zone against the Trojans, Brindza went 5 of 6 on field goals, even hitting a 52-yarder at the halftime gun. Wittek, filling in for the injured Matt Barkley, passed for 186 yards with two interceptions in his first career start for the Trojans.

USC’s much-criticized defensive caution under assistant head coach Monte Kiffin was exploited by the Irish, with Golson patiently finding the sags in the Trojans’ pass coverage for 181 yards passing in the first half. Riddick went 9 yards for a TD in the first quarter, but USC also stiffened to hold Notre Dame to field goals twice in the red zone. Wittek found Robert Woods for a 9-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter — just the ninth touchdown allowed by Notre Dame all season.

The Irish took a 16-10 lead to halftime when Brindza hit the second-longest field goal in Notre Dame history. Te’o made the seventh interception of his phenomenal season when Wittek threw directly to him on USC’s second play of the second half. Both teams struggled to move the ball in the third quarter, and USC settled for a field goal with 9:20 to play just a few moments after Kiffin called a timeout before a play that ended with Lee appearing to catch a pass on the goal line.